The 'No Soul Kid'
by BestDayNever
Summary: AU. After Danny tells Sam and Tucker about a ghost rumour he heard, his friends beg that they go and check it out. What starts as something fun though plunges all three of them into their worst nightmare.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **So this was based off a dream that I had about myself and my two best friends, but I thought I would work it into a Danny Phantom story~ Obviously it is set before Danny was turned into a ghost and in an alternate universe. (I don't think I ever saw a Costco in the cartoon, haha.) The first chapter is really short—I'm kind of testing the waters with this one. If enough people want me to continue though, the next chapters will definitely be longer. :]

Chapter One

Ghosts. Are they real? Do they even exist or are they just made-up being used in Hollywood to scare people? Personally, I was never one to believe in ghosts myself. I believed in the afterlife and that everyone passed into it when their time on Earth was done. The fact that people believe that ghosts are just lost souls who for some reason or another can't pass in to it are what I like to call crazy. Ghosts are made for stories, ones that you tell on nights when you have nothing better to do.

It was exactly this that I was doing with my two best friends, Sam and Tucker, one evening while we sat in Sam's living room. We had all the lights turned off and the only light that illuminated the room was the soft ember glow of the crackling fireplace that she sat in front of.

We all sat in a circle on my floor and I swallowed uncomfortably as Sam told the story about this girl named Molly and her possessed doll. I had heard the story a hundred times over and told it numerous times to scare my sister Jazz, but the way that Sam told it sent shivers racking up my spine. In her hands she held a flashlight and like in typical ghost story moments, the beam of light was shining directly up at her, casting shadows under her already dark eyes.

"Molly…" she said in a high pitched moan, and then paused and grew serious. "I'm going to kill you."

At that moment, she quickly changed the direction of the flashlight and shone the beam straight on the face of a gothic porcelain doll that was atop of one of her many book shelves. Combined with the way the doll lit up and the already freaked out mood I was in, I let out a small scream and grabbed onto Tucker who shoved me off of him with a laugh.

Sam laughed. "You get scared of that story way too easily, Danny. You've heard that story how many times?" she asked, rolling the flashlight towards me.

I scowled and glared at Tucker who was snickering quietly to himself at how much of a wuss I was. I shivered. "Enough times," I said, picking up the flashlight. "It's still scary though, and you know I hate dolls."

"That's what friends are for," Sam winked and I took the empty pop can beside me and threw it at her with a laugh.

"I love hearing ghost stories," Tucker said, then chuckled. "Especially your guys' reactions when I tell them."

"You guys bore me half to death with yours," Sam said good-naturedly, yawning to add effect. "All of your stories are really lame."

"Shut up!" Tucker and I both laughed in unison and ducked out of the way as Sam threw the empty pop can back at us. I retrieved the flashlight beside me.

"Alright, whose turn is it now?" I asked.

"I just told mine, so it's…yours," Sam said and moved beside Tucker so that they were both facing me now.

"What? You know I suck at telling stories, especially scary ones," I groaned.

"Sucks to your ass-mar," Tucker quoted from _Lord of the Flies_ and he and Sam hi-fived.

I scowled at both of them and set the flashlight down beside me. "Okay, fine then. It's not really a story, but it's just a rumour that I heard from my sister. Wanna hear it?"

Both Sam and Tucker nodded eagerly.

"All right… You know that my sister works at Costco, right? You know, the big warehouse type place? Well, I heard from her that they've got a ghost lurking around there. Apparently some teen girl wandered off and found the giant frozen food isle. She wanted to get some ice cream so she opened up the freezer and actually went inside of it. She managed to get locked inside of it though, don't ask me how, and she froze to death. The maintenance workers found her a week later frozen to death and customers have been scared to go down that isle because they keep hearing eerie moans and strange noises Everyone's convinced that it's haunted by her ghost… And that's that."

Tucker blinked once. "Wow, that's kind of spooky. Wouldn't somebody have heard her though trying to get out? Or have seen her?"

I shrugged. "That's the thing. Nobody saw her or even knew she was missing. It wasn't until after closing when her friends noticed she was missing."

"Some friends, but now I'm really curious. Hey, Danny, do you think we could go down there tomorrow?" Sam asked.

Tucker gasped. "Yes! That's exactly what I was thinking!"

I chewed on my bottom lip. "Seriously, you guys? It's only a rumo-"

"So it's settled! After lunch tomorrow, we'll go down to Costco," Sam chirped while I continued to stare at them like they had gone off the deep end.

"Oh come on, Danny," Tucker said after a moment, giving me a playful shove. "Like you said, it's only a rumour."

I laughed nervously. "Maybe after a good night's sleep you'll be thinking straight again," I said, stifling a yawn.

Moments later, all three of us were in our sleeping bags and I wedged between Tucker and Sam. But hard as I tried to fall asleep, it was hard not to listen to my two best friends excitedly chat about tomorrow's Costco trip and the girl who died in the freezer…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

It was no surprise that that night my dreams were filled with porcelain dolls with knives and cracked heads, severed bodies, blood-thirsty vampires, and demons who sucked the life out of people. Damn ghost stories…

I woke the next morning in a frightful sweat from my dreams. My skin felt clammy and my heart was racing like I had run around the school track. Careful not to step on my sleeping friends, I clamoured out of my sleeping bag and went to the bathroom to splash my face with cool water and make myself not look like a train wreck.

I returned to the bedroom moments later to find Sam and Tucker awake now, Tucker sitting up and rubbing his eyes while Sam moaned and shuffled in her sleeping bag.

"Morning, guys. Sleep well? 'Because I didn't," I murmured, yawning and running a hand through my messy black hair.

Tucker stretched his arms above his head and sighed contently. "I live and breathe horror movies and even those don't give me nightmares. Those ghost stories last night were a walk in the park," he smiled.

I scoffed and flopped down on my sleeping bag next to him. "Lucky, I had a terrible sleep. I swear, every five minutes, a new ghost or a demon tried to kill me."

Tucker laughed. "You really need to watch more horror movies, Danny. You get scared way too easily."

"So… Does this mean we don't have to go to Costco anymore?" I asked.

"Of course I still wanna go!" he said excitedly, retrieving his hat and putting it on his head. "That is unless _somebody_ doesn't get out of bed," he said and looked over at Sam who had curled so far down in her sleeping bag that you could barely see the top of her head.

"Leave me be," a muffled groan came from the depths of the sleeping bag.

I looked at Tucker with a mischievous glint in my eye. "I say we sit on her."

"I second that," Tucker laughed.

But just as we were gonna get up, the sleeping bag suddenly came to life and Sam scrambled out of it in a frenzy, standing up abruptly as soon as she got out, her hair fluffing up in all directions.

"There shall be _no_ sitting on me today!" she declared, glaring down at us.

Tucker and I exchanged a look. "Fine, you party crasher," he snickered.

Sam childishly stuck her tongue out at both of us, then laughed. "Come on. Let's get some breakfast, I'm starving."

Just as predicted, Jazz was working that day. We found her at one of the cashier lanes where she was serving a long line up of customers. As soon as she saw us, I flicked my head over to the cafeteria area as a sign for her to come over as soon as she was finished. She nodded in understanding and began to work faster.

Unfortunately, the customers kept coming and by the time Jazz could get to us, it was after hours and almost everyone had left the stores except for us. It was her duty as manager to lock it up, but before she did, she came over to us and took the empty seat next to me.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting so long," she said with a sigh and undid her pony tail, letting her red hair fall down onto her shoulders. "Much better," she added under her breath.

"It's all right," I said and took a sip of my pop that I had gotten from the cafeteria.

"So you guys were just in the neighbourhood and wanted to stop by?" Jazz asked.

"Well, not exactly…" I admitted.

"We wanna hear about the girl," Tucker blurted. When Jazz looked confused, Tucker added, "you know, the girl that died here?"

Jazz's eyes clouded with grief and even a slight tinge of fright. "Oh, yeah, her."

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Sam said. "We were just curious."

Jazz shook her head. "No, it's okay, I'll tell you guys." She took a deep breath before starting. "We call her the 'No Soul Kid' or just the 'NSK' around here. It happened last year around Christmas. A girl and her roommates came in and were shopping for Christmas decorations. She was a bit older than you, probably around sixteen. I remember her face so clearly because next thing I knew, her roommates were running up to the customer service desk and saying that she had gone missing. I don't really remember what happened after that, but at the next staff meeting, the people who handle the ice cream and frozen foods said that they had found a frozen body of a girl in the refrigerator. They said she must have wandered in and then couldn't escape. No one ever found her until a week later. They removed her body, but ever since the incident people have been reporting strange noises coming from that isle. One poor girl claimed she had even seen a face inside the refrigerator."

I shivered at the thought and even noticed Sam nibbling nervously at her fingernails.

"Anyways, that's all I really know. We haven't sold any ice cream in an entire year because everyone's too scared to even go down that isle anymore," Jazz said.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I was interrupted from the loudspeaker above our heads.

"Attention shoppers, please make your final purchases as the store will be closing momentarily. Have a nice day, and thank you for shopping at Costco."

"I guess I should go and deal with a few things then," Jazz murmured. "Thanks for stopping by."

"No problem," I said and got up.

"Thanks for telling us about the girl," Tucker said and stood up as well.

"Sorry if it bothered you," Sam added.

Jazz gave them a small smile. "No trouble at all. Have a safe drive home. See you at home, Danny."

And with that, Jazz disappeared from view as she walked off.

"Happy now?" I asked my two friends. "We found out about the ghost, now let's go home."

I tried to walk past Tucker, but he gripped my arm.

"Wait," he said. "How about we quickly go down to the ice cream section?"

I glanced at the clock. The store would be closing in five minutes. "There's no time, Tuck," I said.

"Oh, come on, it'll just take a second!" Tucker released my arm and before I could grab on to him, he had already raced away in the opposite direction of the exit.

"Tucker, wait!" Sam and I called after her and rushed to catch up, but as soon as we rounded the corner, he was nowhere to be found. We searched up and down numerous isles, but there was still no sign of Tuck anywhere. After a few minutes, I began to panic.

"Tucker, where are you?" I called, but the only thing that answered me was the slam of the front door and the loud clicking as one by one, the lights shut off and left us in complete darkness. I instantly groped around for Sam and I thankfully found her hand searching for me too and gripped her tightly.

"Danny?" she whispered, her breathing beginning to speed up to match my already panicked one.

"Yeah?" My voice came out as a squeak.

"Are we locked in?"

Dread crept its way into my throat and my heart dropped to my stomach at the sickening thought. Although she couldn't see, I nodded and gripped her hand tighter.

"We need to find Tucker," I said and pulled on her hand as we started walking. It didn't take long to find Tucker, though. Hurried footsteps and the sound of someone's panicked breathing came from the darkness ahead told us he was close.

"Tucker?" Sam called out.

"Sam? Danny? Where are you?" Tucker screamed out our names.

A second later, something collided with me and my hand was ripped from Sam's as I crashed to the ground painfully. It was Tucker and his arms were wrapped tightly around me as he drew in shaky breaths; I had never seen him so scared.

"It's okay, Tuck. It's me, you're okay," I reassured him as we both got to our feet.

"I thought I'd lost you guys. I freaked out and got lost," he said breathlessly. Through the darkness, I saw Sam give Tucker a comforting hug and I knew she was equally as scared. At least we didn't end up losing each other. If this was the way that we were going to be for the rest of the night, it was important that we stuck together.

The trio of us trekked through the warehouse like store, trying to spot out blankets and pillows so we could rest, but the inky blackness cut off most of our vision. The only light that we had came from our cell phones which inconveniently had no service in the building. We split up, but all I managed to find was a loaf of bread and a thick sweater which I pulled over top of my t-shirt. I grabbed two for the others and met up with them in the main hallway five minutes later. Sam had found three working flashlights and Tucker brought back three boxes of crackers.

"Do you think we'll actually have to spend the entire night here?" Tucker asked as he pulled on his sweater.

I took a bite out of a cracker before answering him. "Probably, but it's not so bad. I mean, we're warm, we have food, and the people will come for us in the morning."

"What about the NSK? What if she finds us?" Sam whispered.

I had completely forgotten about Jazz's story and a chill raced up my spine. I inched forward so I could be closer to my friends, but I said nothing. Now that the NSK had been brought up, the silence between us all made the fact that we were stuck in her for the night was a very frightening thought.

"I'm going to look for the blankets again. Anyone wanna come?" Sam asked a moment later.

"I'll come," I offered, getting to my feet.

Both of us grabbed flashlights and with a goodbye to Tucker, we left our so called campsite. But as we went further away into the warehouse, not even our flashlights could pick out objects that would be of use. And since the warehouse was so large, it didn't take us long before we had no idea where we were.

"Sam, where are we?" I asked, once again reaching out for her hand to make sure she was there. Her hand reached mine and I pulled her closer to me for comfort.

"I don't know," she murmured, her voice low.

I squeezed her hand comfortingly, now suddenly wishing that we had never gone looking for the blankets. I didn't even want to be in this warehouse today, but it was no time to start blaming my friends for dragging me here.

Suddenly Sam stopped.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"What's that light up ahead?" she whispered.

Following the direction of her head, I noticed that a few isles up, there was a blue-ish white glow of light. Without answering her, I pulled her along beside me feeling drawn to the light. As we neared the isle, my skin began to prickle with uneasiness and I felt Sam shudder beside me.

"Danny…is this…?"

Though she probably didn't notice, I nodded and as much as I wanted to run away, my feet were rooted to the spot.

We had ended up in the ice cream section.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Tall glass freezer doors that reached up to ceiling stretched as far as I could see and the dark floor was illuminated with the glow of the freezer lights. I hardly dared to look in the frosted windows in fear that I would see the NSK.

Sam pulled at my hand. "Danny? Come on, you're freaking me out, let's get out of here."

But I didn't hear her. Instead, I dropped her hand and took a few steps forward almost as if I were in a trance. My unblinking eyes were staring straight ahead and a voice echoed in my head.

"Come closer," the voice whispered. It was a girl's voice, husky and seductive. "Come to me…"

I could almost see her through my fogged up eyes. She was drop-dead gorgeous with pale skin, short bright blonde hair, and brilliant blue eyes. Her hand was stretched out towards me and I instantly reached out for her. Our fingertips nearly touched when suddenly my name was screamed out and I was tackled to the ground before the girl could touch me.

I snapped out of my trance and realized it was Sam who had barrelled me out of the way. Then something else screamed and I glanced back where the girl was. I only saw her beautiful face for a second before she suddenly contorted and turned into something utterly terrifying. Her skin darkened and looked sunken while her hair turned black and began writhing like it was made of spiders.

"GET OUT!" she screeched in a blood curdling scream and with a flash of light from her hands, she shot two snakes at us which hissed and snapped at our heels as I hauled Sam to her feet and dragged her away.

"Run!" I screamed, keeping a firm hold on her hand as we bolted.

"GET OUT!" the girl wailed again, her voice so high pitched that as she screamed the glass on the doors began to shatter around Sam and I.

Sam screamed in fright and as I glanced at her for a brief second, I saw that the left side of her face was flecked with scratches from the broken glass.

"Keep running!" I urged her even though my own legs were begging me to stop. But it wasn't until I was sure we were far away did I stop and collapse against a shelf, my sides heaving as I gasped for breath. Sam had sunk to the ground, also catching her breath.

"Are you okay?" I asked her once I had found my voice.

Sam glanced up at me, her hair a mess and her face red. "I think so," she said shakily, tentatively dabbing at the gashes on her cheek. Her eyes then drifted downwards and her eyes widened. "Danny, your leg," she gasped.

It wasn't until she mentioned it that a large red-hot pain seared through my lower calf and I clenched my teeth to keep from making a noise. Carefully, I rolled up my pant leg which was stained red and it revealed two small puncture holes which were trickling blood. Through the adrenaline running through my veins when we were escaping, I had hardly noticed that one of the snakes had bitten me.

"It's fine," I lied. "I can barely feel it."

But my words betrayed me when I stepped towards Sam to help her up when my right leg collapsed underneath me.

"Danny!" Sam caught me just in time before I hit the ground.

"I'm fine," I repeated, shrugging her off and attempting to stand with the help of a nearby shelf. Taylore also got to her feet and I felt her worried eyes bore into me as I let go of the shelf.

"I'm fine," I said firmly. "Let's go back to Tucker."

But before I could take one step, fast moving footsteps approaching us from the left and I moved closer to Sam.

"Sam? Danny Where are you?" Tucker's familiar voice cried out.

"Over here, Tucker!" Sam replied and a minute later, Tucker appeared, his eyes wide in the glow of her flashlight.

"I heard screaming. Is everything—Sam, what happened to your cheek?" he exclaimed.

Sam lifted her hand up to her cheek which had stopped bleeding and tried to cover up the scratches. "It's fine," she said.

"What happened?" Tucker repeated.

I began to tell Tuck about what had happened from the voice to the mysterious girl that was most likely the NSK. I told her about how she had attacked us and how Sam got her scratches and my snake bite.

"You got bit by a freakin' snake?" Tucker exclaimed.

"I'm fine," I said.

"You can't walk properly," Sam murmured.

I shot her a glare and applied pressure to my wounded leg. It didn't even feel like a leg anymore. The burning has stopped, but now it was numb up to my mid-thigh area.

"It doesn't hurt—it's just numb," I explained.

"Still…you shouldn't walk on it for the rest of the night. We should just stay here," Tucker said.

"I'll bring the stuff here," Sam offered and vanished a moment later.

When she was gone, Tucker kneeled in front of me and began rolling up my pant leg, setting his flashlight beside him.

"What're you doing?" I asked him, feeling unbalanced all of a sudden even though I was leaning against a shelf.

"I didn't know if any of you guys would be hurt or not, so I put some gauze in my pocket that I found on the way here," he replied, taking some of the white fabric out of his pocket. With his flashlight, he found the puncture wounds which looked quite gruesome to me now that they were lit up clearly.

I swallowed hard and averted my gaze to the top of Tucker's head as he wrapped my leg in the gauze. By the time he had finished, Sam came back with the crackers and bread as well as the other two flashlights and a blanket that she had found on the way back.

"What do we do now?" I asked as soon as we were settled. "Just wait till morning?"

"I guess so," Sam admitted, nibbling on a piece of bread. "That, and hope that that girl doesn't come back."

I shivered at the thought. The girls face was so clear in my mind, both the beautiful one, and the twisted demented one that had tried to kill us.

Suddenly, there was a noise from two isles over that sounded like a box filled with screws had been dropped.

I inhaled sharply and Sam gasped.

"What was that?" Tucker whispered.

There was only one answer to that question and my heart sank. It was her.

All three of us prepared for the worst as we waited for her to come at us again with her snakes and demon like appearance. But instead, in the seconds that followed, there was nothing but some faint sobs.

"Someone's crying," I murmured, getting unsteadily to my feet.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked.

"I'm gonna go see who it is," I replied.

"Idiot!" Sam hissed, grabbing my arm and roughly pulling me back down. "You're not supposed to be walking."

I ripped my arm from her irritably. "I'm fine," I said firmly. Although I couldn't feel my leg, there was no pain present. I could walk; it just felt funny. "I'll be back."

This time, no one tried to stop me, but no one came with me either.

I crossed over two isles, looking for any source of movement, but there was no one. Had we just imagined the crying?

"There you are," a voice suddenly purred and I whipped my head to the right. Leaning up against one of the nearby shelves was the girl; her white dress was strangely illuminated which made her glow. Her bright blue eyes looked glossy however, like she had been crying…

"What do you want?" I asked cautiously, keeping my distance.

The girl smiled, then giggled and beckoned me over with a curled finger.

Almost immediately, my body jerked forward and I started walking towards her, though it didn't feel like I was making myself walking. As soon as I was no more than two feet away from her, she cancelled whatever spell had been put on me and I had to grab on to a nearby counter to stop myself from falling over.

"Oopsie, don't fall now," the girl giggled and then noticed my leg. "Oh no, what happened?"

"One of your snakes got me, remember? You attacked me and my friend not even half an hour ago," I grunted, the pain returning to my leg.

"Oh, I wasn't aiming for you. Your friend just took me by surprise, that's all."

"So you tried to kill her."

The girl just smiled, ignoring me. "Hold still," she cooed and then kneeled in front of me, much like Tucker had done before. When Tucker bandaged my leg, he didn't roll my pant leg back down so the bandage was already exposed, but some of the linen had become ripped when Sam dragged me back down.

The girl looked up at me, almost asking for permission, but I just frowned down at her, unsure what she was doing. She then began to undo the bandage on my leg until it had fallen away.

"Um…what are you doing?" I asked her.

She didn't answer me, but instead bent her head lower and kissed where the snake bites had been. There was an immediate coldness that set in, followed by a surge of heat that filled my entire leg. She pulled away and giggled again and I looked at my leg. The bite marks were gone and as I put pressure on my leg, it felt normal as if nothing had ever happened to it.

"Uh…thanks…" I said awkwardly as she stood up. "So…do you have a name?"

"My name is Penny and you're welcome. Besides," she purred, moving a strand of hair from my face, "you have to be in perfect condition for what you're going to do next."

Penny's fingertips brushed my cheek and I shivered.

"What do you mean?" I asked warily.

Penny smiled and leaned forward until her lips were next to my ear. "Let's go find your friends," she whispered, and before I could object, she grabbed my hand and started towing me away down the isles.

"Wait, stop! What do you mean?" I yelled, but all Penny did was giggle.

"You'll see!" she replied.

We rounded another corner and nearly ran into Sam and Tucker who had their flashlights waving around in all directions. They screamed as soon as they saw Penny and directed their flashlights directly on her.

Penny screamed at the harsh light and dropped my hand before changing form into her demon-like figure.

"No!" I screeched, flinging myself in front of my friends. "Penny, stop! They're not going to hurt you!"

The demon form of Penny just screamed again and writhed in what looked like pain in the harsh light of the flashlights.

"Put your flashlights down!" I ordered Sam and Tucker.

"But, Danny—" Sam started.

"Just do it!" I yelled.

Without any objections, the two of them lowered their flashlights and flicked them off. I stayed in front of them until Penny stopped screaming and changed back into her normal form. She sank to the floor and moaned, smoke rising off her pearly white skin as if the light had burned her.

"What do you think you're doing with her? She tried to kill us," Sam hissed in my ear.

I ignored her and went over beside Penny. "Are you all right?" I asked her cautiously.

Her blue eyes met mine and they were filled with pain, but she nodded. I smiled slightly and helped her to her feet.

"Penny, this is Sam and Tucker. Guys, this is Penny, the NSK," I introduced them.

Tucker stood there with his mouth gaping open while Sam was staring warily at Penny as if she might attack again.

Penny nudged me. "Do they talk?" she asked in a whisper of a voice.

I looked between my two friends, motioning silently for them to say something.

Tucker's mouth twitched and the only two words that came out of his mouth were: "You're really hot."

Sam waved nervously at her and murmured a "hello."

Penny wagged her eyebrows and Tucker and purred; I had to jab her in the side to make her stop.

"So, what do you need us for?" I asked once I had her attention.

"Oh, right," Penny murmured, but before she could explain, Sam interjected.

"Wait…so you try to kill us, and now you want us for some sort of favour? How does that work?" she asked, glaring at Penny who returned the glare.

"Because you three are the only ones who can help me," she said.

All three of us stared at her, shocked, except for Tucker who was eying her more with a look of lust in her eyes.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When I died, my soul wasn't able to escape this world," Penny explained, her voice strangely calm. "There's this creature called the Pravus and he guards my soul. Anyone who has ever tried to help me in the past has perished. But I have faith in you three. There's just…something about you guys. I had a dream not too long ago that told me you three were coming. You guys are the only people who can help me now."

"And if we don't?" Sam asked.

Penny's beautiful blue eyes clouded over. "Then I'm doomed to wander in the place between the afterlife and this life. I'll never be at rest…"

My mind swam with the possibilities of what could come out of this. Either we helped Penny and defeated the Pravus, or we let her wander in the world between worlds. But helping her also had the possibility of us dying in the process and if there was one thing in the life that I was terrified of, it was death.

I gulped nervously before I spoke. "I'll help," I said, then glanced at my friends.

Tucker nodded. "I'm in," he said.

Sam looked wary, but eventually sighed and solemnly nodded. "I'll help."

Penny smiled gratefully at all of us. "Thank you. Now come with me," she said.

We followed after her and she led us back towards the ice cream isle where Sam and I had first encountered her. I took these silent moments to look around the deserted warehouse. As much as I hated it here, the thought of never seeing it again sent a lump of sadness to my throat and I suddenly didn't want to do this anymore; the risks were too high.

But before I could say anything, we had arrived and the look of joy on Penny's face made me close my mouth.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am that you're doing this for me," she said, smiling down at us. Even Sam managed a small smile in return.

"No trouble at all," Tucker said.

"Now remember," Penny said, her tone growing serious, "there's only one way to defeat the Pravus and it requires a special weapon."

"What is it?" I asked.

Penny smiled, and then closed her eyes and her body began to glow. A tingling sensation shot through my arm and then my hand grasped the handle of something cold and metallic.

When the glowing faded, I looked down at my hand and was shocked to see a solid gold gun.

"A gun?" I gasped in disbelief, looking the small pistol over and over again as if this were a dream. I was only fourteen years old—the only gun I had ever handled were the ones I used in paint ball and video games.

Penny nodded. "This is a special gun though. The one you're holding releases souls. If you defeat the Pravus, it will release my own soul," she explained.

She only gave us a moment to look them over and get used to the holding of them before she walked over the broken glass and opened one of the freezer doors.

"Come," she said.

"Wait," Sam suddenly said, her voice panicked, "aren't you going to give us any advice before we go?"

"I believe in learning as you go," Penny said with a sly smile, then began glowing again.

A strong wind picked up and before any of us could run away, the wind kicked out our feet and we went soaring into the freezer. The last thing I heard was the slam of the freezer door as we descended into the inky blackness.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

I woke up feeling cold and sore. I half expected to be back in my bed, but the hard ground underneath me told otherwise. I groaned and shifted painfully to get off the sharp rock jabbing into my side. I opened my eyes, blinking many times as I strained to see through the inky darkness. Somehow we had been transported underground and the only source of light was tiny orbs of light that were suspended in the air. There was a large shallow pool nearby and from the ceiling hung many rock formations that hung down. It looked like some bizarre world out of a fantasy novel. But where were Sam and Tucker?

"Sam? Tucker?" I called out their names, but the only thing that replied was a deafening roar that made the icicle shaped rock formations on the ceiling of the cave start to tremble and ripples in the pool to appear.

My breath began to quicken and I clutched my pistol nervously, preparing for the worst. No more than two seconds later, the wall behind me shattered as another roar shook the cave and I went flying forward, smashing to the cave floor. I immediately got to my feet and swung around to see what exactly came through the wall.

It was a monstrous creature that I never could have come up in my wildest dreams. It was large and dragon like with spikes covering almost every inch of its lithe ebony body. It had dozens of thick white teeth dripping over its lower jaw like a sabre-tooth tiger and its eyes flared fire. Standing on two legs, I was sure that its head could easily touch the roof of the cave. It was then that a noticed, embedded between its two eyes, was a small silver orb.

That was Penny's soul and this, standing in front of me, was the Pravus.

Before I could shoot, the Pravus swung its spiked tail and I yelped as I leapt behind a boulder. The tail and the rock collided with such a force that the rock split in two and I was showered with tiny pieces of shattered rock.

The Pravus roared with rage at the fact that it had missed its target and I charged out, managing to shoot it in the leg before diving behind another rock. The bullet wounded the creature, creating a deep wound on its leg that spurted crimson blood. But it had learned its lesson before and instead of smashing the rock, the Pravus climbed over the boulder and before I could run, it picked me up with its wounded leg before slamming me back down to the cave floor. I coughed and gasped for breath as it knocked the wind out of me. I tried to squirm away, but I was trapped between two of its massive talons and its blood was running down on to me. It had a terrible stench like rotting flesh and I had to crane my neck to make sure it didn't run into my mouth. The Pravus lowered its head so it was inches from my face and opened its mouth slightly. I knew the end was near, but I struggled anyways, letting out a cry of frustration as the creature held me tight.

Suddenly, its grip loosened and I craned my neck to see Tucker behind the massive creature shooting repeatedly, creating several bullet holes deep in the Pravus' side. The Pravus screeched in agony and whirled on him, releasing me from its talons. Sam appeared behind me and helped me to my feet. I glanced at her silently and she nodded before we both charged, guns out, ready to defend our friend.

The battle between us four raged on for what seemed like an eternity. Each of us had suffered multiple lacerations and were at our last scraps of strength. Even the Pravus was beginning to let up. Its scaly skin was torn in several places and blood pooled all around it, but it wouldn't give up and I knew it wouldn't stop until it was dead.

I don't know what happened next, whether something just clicked inside my head or I was chasing after a crazy theory, but I suddenly felt like I knew what I had to do.

"Sam! Tucker! Distract it!" I screamed at them.

They seemed to understand as they drew the attention away from me long enough for me to scramble up a tall enough ledge to get a good aim at the Pravus. I didn't need to wait even fifteen seconds before I got a good shot. Whatever happened, I hoped that this would work.

The Pravus figured out that only two people were battling it and it sensed my presence behind it. Before it could react, I ran off the ledge with a cry and landed on the Pravus' snout. At the same time, I aimed my gun and shot it straight at the silver orb between its eyes.

A brilliant white light erupted through the entire cavern and the Pravus began whirling about, thrashing its head from side to side as it screamed in pain. A heartbeat later, the soul exploded beneath me and I went flying into the light. I don't know how long I was falling for, but it was broken by water. It flooded my nose, my ears, and my mouth and made it impossible to open my eyes. All air that had been in my lungs had been knocked out when I hit the water, but I couldn't figure out which way was up in order to get a breath. As I sank lower and lower, I knew there was no hope. This was it. This was the end.

_Please let Sam and Tucker be safe._

And with that last thought, the bright light faded away and darkness washed over.

I didn't expect to wake up, but I did and it was to the noise of dripping water. I felt cold and sore, but that wasn't any surprise. What did surprise me though was what greeted me when I opened my eyes.

Ten meters away at the most, in the all black room, was a pool of light coming from the floor as there was no other source. Two figures in black cloaks were standing in it, each on the opposite ends of what looked to be a small stone pool of water.

I got to my feet, walking hesitantly over to where they were standing.

"H-hello?" my voice came out as a whimper.

The figures instantly turned their attention to me, their heads snapping immediately in my direction as I spoke. I froze in place as I instantly recognized them. It was Sam and Tucker, but instead of their normal, friendly faces, their features were surrounded by shadow, making them look dark and sinister. As I walked forward when they beckoned me with their hands, I noticed that their eyes were lined with thick black eye liner and it was only when I looked down at myself that I realized I was wearing the exact same black cloak.

"What's going on?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

"We succeeded," Tucker replied, her voice hardly carrying any emotion.

"At the cost of our own souls," Sam added, equally as ominous.

Then they turned away from me and looked into the basin of water that was before them. I joined them and looked into the crystal clear water. What I saw nearly stopped my heart. Their reflections were disfigured, their eyes completely black and their skin looking sunken and lifeless. Only I looked the same and I reached up and touched my cheek. It felt warm and soft like it normally did, not at all like them.

"You mean…you're dead?" I whispered.

"This is how we'll live," Tucker murmured, his gun flashing to his hand.

"For all eternity." Sam glanced over her shoulder and I followed her gaze to see more hooded figures coming to join us. None of their faces were recognizable as they were all shrouded, but a sinking feeling began to form in my stomach.

"Who are they?" I asked, my voice shaking, but my friends ignored me and continued to carry on with their speech.

"We are now the undead," Tucker continued.

"Neither living, nor dead," Sam said, taking a step towards one of the beings that was sauntering over to us.

"And here we'll stay."

"To rule over this place."

"Creatures of the night."

"Stealing souls and taking prisoners."

I began to back up, my hands shaking as I started to feel claustrophobic. There were now twenty figures walking towards us, each of them darker than the last. I backed up into something and felt it grab me, one cold arm around my waist and the other around my chest constricting my arms.

"You'll be one of us," the figure whispered as I helplessly struggled. "Soon."

"No, please! Stop! Let me go!" I screamed.

Sam ad Tucker's faces snapped towards me and the figures reverted their attention over to where I was.

"Those who are not like us…" Sam whispered.

"Do not belong here," Tucker growled.

"They must either accept their fate…"

"Or be killed."

"Because by definition, if you're not with us…"

"You're against us."

Tucker snapped his gun in half effortlessly and it clattered to the ground.

A chorus of eerie laughter filled the cave and the figure tightened its grip on me. "One of us…" they whispered close to my ear and I whimpered as I felt the slow drag of a tongue come into contact with my neck. A fiery pain seared through me a moment later, followed by my body going completely numb like how when Penny had cured my snake bite wound. Then the figure dropped my body and I crashed to the cave floor in front of the hooded figures.

"Have at him," Sam commanded and with a screech, they were upon me and the world faded from view.

Ghosts. Are they real? Do they even exist or are they just made-up being used in Hollywood to scare people? Personally, I was never one to believe in ghosts myself. That is…until I became one myself.


End file.
